


the five times ben and klaus share a bed and the one time they dont

by TheLovelyOrchid



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brotherly Love, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I just have a lot of feelings about these two, No Incest, about all of the hargreeves really, but im tagging it anyway please be careful, the non-con is only mentioned and briefly described but it isn’t graphic, theyre all in here it’s just mostly ben and klaus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26397352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLovelyOrchid/pseuds/TheLovelyOrchid
Summary: “Klaus!” someone whispers from across the room.“Six?” Four says sleepily, dragging tiny fists across half-lidded eyes. “Is it time for training?”“No, shh,” his brother shushes him and closes the door quietly. “And it’s Ben now, remember?”“Oh, right.” Mom had barely given them their names a week ago. Sometimes he still forgot.Ben pushes himself up onto Klaus’ bed. He takes Klaus’ blanket and wraps it around his shoulders. Klaus doesn’t mind.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & The Hargreeves
Comments: 14
Kudos: 174





	the five times ben and klaus share a bed and the one time they dont

Four is half asleep when his door creaks open.

“Klaus!” someone whispers from across the room.

“Six?” Four says sleepily, dragging tiny fists across half-lidded eyes. “Is it time for training?”

“No, shh,” his brother shushes him and closes the door quietly. “And it’s Ben now, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Mom had barely given them their names a week ago. Sometimes he still forgot. “What are you doing?”

“I’m sneaking,” Ben says softly, pushing himself up onto Klaus’ bed.

“What if Dad catches you?” Klaus asks, sitting up to make room.

“He won’t,” his brother says surely. “Superheroes don’t get caught.”

Ben takes Klaus’ blanket and wraps it around his shoulders. Klaus doesn’t mind; his hands are always cold anyway.

“I brought these.” Ben pulls out a deck of cards and shows them to Klaus proudly.

Klaus’ face scrunches, and he sticks out his tongue. “Ew. That’s something _Five_ would wanna play.”

“I know.” Ben giggles. “I sneaked them from his room.”

Klaus giggles too. “Let me see.”

Ben hands over the cards, and Klaus takes them out.

“I saw Mom teach Five how to play Go Fish,” Klaus says, giving cards to himself and Ben.

“Five likes to play Go Fish?” Ben asks, picking up his cards as Klaus gives them to him.

“No, I don’t think he liked it.” Klaus sets the pile between them and picks up his own cards. “He made her teach him a bunch more harder ones, but they were boring. Do you have any fours?”

“No.” Ben shakes his head.

“Okay, now you say, ‘Go fish.’” Klaus instructs.

“Oh. Go fish.”

After half an hour, Klaus thinks Ben is starting to fall asleep.

“… Will Dad get mad if he finds you in here?” Klaus asks hesitantly after Ben spends five minutes browsing his cards.

“Huh?” Ben says, catching the tail-end of the word in a yawn. “He can’t, remember? Superheroes don’t get caught.”

“Oh, right,” Klaus says. “… Do you have any queens?”

Ben doesn’t answer.

“Ben?”

Ben jumps. “Huh?”

“… Do you wanna stop playing?” Klaus asks, already picking up his piles.

Ben just hums, and Klaus takes it as a yes, pulling his cards from his hands. He packs them back up into Five’s box and gets up to put them on his table. When he turns back around, Ben is laying down.

“Ben?” Klaus asks. He gets no response. “Ben, you have to go back to your room.”

Ben still says nothing. Klaus looks nervously at his door like his father will burst through at any moment.

“Superheroes don’t get caught,” he whispers to himself, crawling up onto the bed beside Ben. He curls up next to his brother without his blanket. “Superheroes don’t get caught.”

In the morning, Klaus wakes up to Five storming into his room to tell them it’s time to train and to take back his deck of cards.

Klaus finds his blanket back over him. Ben pushes it off of them both as he sits up.

“See.” Ben smiles. “I told you. We’re superheroes.”

Klaus smiles back. Maybe they were.

They follow Five down to the training room.

-

Klaus can’t even think of sleeping when someone knocks softly on his door. It creaks open slowly, and Klaus pushes further back into the corner of his wall.

“… Klaus?” says a voice from his doorway.

Klaus refuses to open his eyes or make a sound. If he doesn’t look maybe they won’t know he can see them.

“Mom said you couldn’t come to dinner ‘cause you were sick… Are you sick?”

It’s almost beside his bed this time. Klaus clenches the blanket he has wrapped around himself tighter in his hands. It’s suddenly pulled back from his face. Klaus still won’t open his eyes.

“Klaus?”

“Go- Go away,” Klaus says. It means he’s no longer silent, but as long as he doesn’t open his eyes-

“You’re shaking.”

A weight shifts onto his bed and sits next to his feet. Nothing happens for a while after that, and Klaus chances a look. Ben stares back at him. They both just stare for a bit.

“… What happened?” Ben asks.

Something in Klaus’ throat stops him from speaking.

“Was it… Was it your special training with Dad?”

Klaus nods.

“What did he make you do?” Ben asks quietly.

The something in Klaus’ throat tightens, and a small, crooked sound twists out.

Neither of them speaks for awhile, and Klaus listens to the sounds of his siblings getting ready for bed. Ben is already in his pajamas. Klaus is still in his dirty uniform.

“… The building,” Klaus says finally. “The stone one. In the… the cemetery.”

Ben blinks at him. “He took you there?”

Klaus nods.

“… To talk to the ghosts?”

Klaus pulls the blanket tighter. “He put me… inside with them.”

“Did they… talk to you?”

Klaus shakes his head harshly.

“They were screaming,” Klaus says, and it’s hard to breathe. “Dad wouldn’t let me come out until I wasn’t- wasn’t scared. They knew my name.”

“… How?”

“I don’t know,” Klaus says quietly, barely enough breath to push out the words.

Something crashes in the bathroom and Klaus jumps and smacks his head against the wall. He pretends it doesn’t hurt, but he still wants to cry.

“They were bleeding.” Klaus doesn’t know how else to describe what they looked like. He doesn’t know the words for the kinds of marks that killed them. “They were bleeding a lot.”

He looks back at Ben, eyes wide but not _understanding._ Something snaps.

“They were get-getting blood all over my sh-shirt,” Klaus chokes out, pulling at his shirt covered only in the remnants of dirt and cobwebs. “A-and they were clo-close. I couldn’t mo-ve.”

His breath is coming out in short bursts that turn into sobs.

“Why wouldn’t he let- let me _out_?” Klaus whines again and hiccups.

“… Maybe it’s to help you be a superhero,” Ben tries.

Klaus shakes his head fiercely

“I don’t wa-nna be a superhero!” Klaus wails.

His head hurts, and he misses his pajamas.

“Guys, Mom says-” Vanya’s halfway through the door when she sees the state of her brothers and freezes. “What’s… going on?”

“It’s… it’s superhero stuff, Vanya,” Ben says quietly. Klaus chokes trying to stop crying. “You wouldn’t get it.”

“Oh,” Vanya mutters softly, eyes falling to the floor as she starts to ball up her skirt in her fist. “Well… Mom says it’s time for bed.”

She looks at Klaus for a moment, hesitating, and he looks back, struggling to stifle halting breaths. She turns and closes the door behind her. Her footsteps disappear down the hall.

“… I’ll turn off your light,” Ben says, starting to shuffle off the bed.

Klaus shoots forward to grab him.

“No,” he says, voice small and fingers twisting desperately into Ben’s shirt.

Ben pauses. “… Mom’s gonna tell Dad if she sees the light on.”

Klaus loosens his grip. He doesn’t want Dad, but…

“Is it… the ghosts?” Ben asks. “Are… Are there some here now?”

Klaus shakes his head.

“They’re… They’re worse at night,” Klaus whispers, like the ghosts that aren’t there might hear. “They… They might find me. They knew my- my name.”

Ben looks at Klaus for a long moment, then at the light switch, then quickly back to Klaus again.

“What if… you hide real good under your blanket, and I sleep in front?” Ben says, patting the side of the bed closest to the door. “Then, if the ghosts come and it’s dark, they’ll think it’s my room and they’ll go away.”

Klaus sniffles and eventually nods.

Ben nods back and walks over to the light switch. Klaus shuffles out of his corner and lays on his pillow, legs curled up to his stomach and blanket pulled up to his eyes.

“Ready?” Ben asks.

Klaus nods and is plunged into darkness. The first few seconds are almost unbearable, and Klaus shuts his eyes tight. Then Ben’s weight is shifting up onto the other side of the bed, and Klaus is relieved not to be alone again.

“Can I have some of the blanket?” Ben asks, nearly silent.

Klaus shifts, trying not to make a sound, and loosens the blanket around himself. Ben reaches back and pulls half of it over to his side, and Klaus scoots closer so it can cover them both.

“Sorry,” Klaus whispers, accidentally brushing Ben’s back with his cold hands.

“It’s okay,” Ben says, but he still flinches away from the touch.

Klaus tucks his hands into his sleeves and folds them against his chest, then presses close to his brother so he’s harder for the ghosts to see.

Ben falls asleep first, and it’s takes him a while, but Klaus eventually follows. He wakes up three times to his brother’s steady breathing and the stripes of his pajamas. His heart is almost beating out of his chest each time, and he has to look frantically around his room without moving his head, but no one screams.

-

Klaus is fitfully sleeping when his door swings open and feet thump harshly across his floor.

The silhouette of a person stands in the center of his room, breath ragged and strangled, and for a moment Klaus thinks the ghosts from the mausoleum have followed him back.

“Klaus, I can’t-” the tiny figure begins shakily. Ben, not a ghost, Klaus realizes. “I can’t do this. I can’t be a- I can’t do missions.”

Klaus sits up slowly, trying to blink the remnants of a bad dream from his vision.

“Ben, what are you-”

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Ben whispers.

“… The mission?” Klaus asks quietly.

Ben nods, but it breaks halfway through. “Those people I- I killed.”

“Ben-”

“Master Ben.”

Klaus and Ben look to find Pogo in Klaus’ wide open doorway.

“What are you doing in Master Klaus’ room at this hour?” Pogo asks.

Ben’s frozen in place, mouth half open like an excuse is ready to fall out. All that comes out is that same tattered breathing that makes him sound like the dead.

“Should I get your father?” Pogo asks hesitantly.

Klaus finally gets up to stand next to Ben.

“Don’t worry, Pogo. Ben and I were just talking about yesterday’s mission. Ya know, going over how to improve and all that. Right, Ben?” Ben’s mouth snaps shut and he nods robotically.

Pogo looks between the two of them awkwardly. There’s almost a sadness in the way he does it. “Yes, well, you should be on your way back to bed then, Master Ben.”

Ben looks at Klaus for a moment and settles his breathing. He goes to leave the room with steps much softer than the ones that brought him in.

Klaus grabs him by the wrist.

“But we’ve still got so much to talk about.” Klaus smiles at the ape.

Pogo does not return it. He looks conflicted.

“Master Klaus-”

“Please, Pogo,” Klaus breathes out seriously.

Pogo looks between them, and he seems very old. Klaus thinks he understands some of what that feels like in moments like these. Ben’s hand shakes in his.

“Very well,” Pogo finally says. He begins to close the door. “Goodnight, Master Klaus, Master Ben.”

“Goodnight,” Klaus returns.

“Pogo,” Ben stops him. “You won’t… tell Dad, right?”

Pogo sighs, split down the middle between the hallway and Klaus’ room by the door. There is no light but from the moon through Klaus’ window.

“No, Master Ben.” He almost smiles. “Your secret is safe with me.”

He closes the door.

“Come on,” Klaus says, leading Ben over to his bed. “We should go to sleep.”

Ben nods. He presses up against the wall while Klaus takes the side open to the rest of the room.

“Is this… is this stupid?” Ben asks after a while. Neither of them is asleep.

“Is what stupid?” Klaus asks.

“This. We’re too old to be sleeping in the same bed,” Ben says, an edge to his tone. He gets quiet. “We’re too old to be scared of missions.”

“No,” Klaus answers immediately. “I don’t think so… Sometimes it’s better not being by yourself.”

Ben doesn’t say anything.

“Besides,” Klaus continues. “I think it’s more stupid _not_ to be scared of missions. This was only our first one.”

“Luther’s not scared of missions…”

“Exactly. And Luther’s the stupidest of us all.”

Ben stifles a giggle. “You sound like Five.”

“I take _great_ offense to that,” Klaus says dramatically, causing Ben to giggle louder.

It’s very contagious. Klaus almost falls off the bed.

“Okay, okay,” Ben whispers. “We gotta be quiet. Sleep.”

“Right, sorry,” Klaus says, not sorry at all.

He re-situates himself on the bed. His knees are hanging off the edge, Ben is still squished almost entirely into the space between the bed and the wall, and their backs are pressed tightly together. It’s not as comfortable a fit as it used to be, but it’s better than being alone.

-

Klaus doesn’t think he’ll ever sleep again when his brother, without weight or footsteps, sits on his bed.

“Klaus…”

“They didn’t believe me,” Klaus says numbly to his ceiling.

Ben sighs. “No… they didn’t.”

“They didn’t believe that their brother, who can _see ghosts_ , saw their other brother, who _is a ghost_!” Klaus shouts.

“Well, to be fair to them-”

“Fair to them?” Klaus shoots up and turns to Ben. “They aren’t being fair to me! To us!”

“No, what isn’t fair to _us_ is that you’re always so high out of your mind that our siblings don’t even think your powers work anymore!” Ben snaps.

Klaus inhales sharply.

“Okay, I’m gonna forgive you for that, because you just died and I know you didn’t mean it,” Klaus says, considerably quieter.

Ben sighs and slides across Klaus’ bed so his legs are crossed and his back is pressed against the wall. Klaus wonders if he can feel it.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, I just…” Ben blinks and looks up at the ceiling like Klaus had. Klaus realizes he doesn’t know if ghosts can cry. “… Am I just really never going to talk to them again?”

“Ben…” Klaus is, for probably the first time in his life, at a loss for words. “I… I’m sure they’ll come around eventually. We just gotta give them time.”

“Well, I guess that’s all I’ve got now, isn’t it?” Ben laughs hollowly. “Time.”

“That’s not true,” Klaus says softly and shrugs. “You’ve got me.”

Ben turns to him for a moment then quickly back. Klaus can tell he is trying very hard not to let his face fall apart.

“Yeah,” Ben says, strangled.

Klaus didn’t think that would be enough. Nothing in their lives ever is.

Klaus shifts so that he’s sitting next to Ben. The window sill digs into his back, but he folds his legs up to his chest and stays anyway.

He wants to hug his brother or rest his hand on his. He wants them both to lay down and close their eyes and pretend none of this is even happening.

But even Klaus can’t touch ghosts, and Ben’s hands are even colder than his now, and Klaus doesn’t know if ghosts can sleep, even if they want to. So he sits and listens as Ben tries not to sound like he’s crying and Klaus does the same, and he stays because it’s the only thing he can do.

-

Klaus just wants to sleep for the rest of forever, but Ben won’t let him.

“Klaus,” Ben says gently. “Are we gonna talk about it?”

“Nope,” Klaus says in a deceivingly light tone. The pillow he’s holding to his chest might be suffocating. “Nothing to talk about, Benny-boy.”

Ben’s silence is almost oppressive.

“Actually, you know what, there is something I want to talk about,” Klaus says, shifting a bit on his side. “I almost forgot how uncomfortable these beds are. I mean, geez, you think they’d take better care of the homeless.”

Klaus flips onto his back to prove his point and also because it’s starting to burn from the holes Ben is starting into. Big mistake, now he can see Ben’s worried little face.

“You can stop with the sad little ghostie routine,” Klaus says. “It’s been kind of overdone at this point, bro.”

“You should’ve reported him.” Ben ignores him. “You could still report him.”

Klaus sighs.

“For what?” Klaus scoffs. “Trying to have sex with his boyfriend?”

“You aren’t his boyfriend,” Ben says.

“I was living in his apartment and already willingly having sex with him!” Klaus sits up quickly, earning a few stares from the other people in the shelter. “What would you call that? What do you think _anyone else_ would call that?”

“You were _passed out_ ,” Ben hisses through clenched teeth. “If I hadn’t been there-”

“You _were_ there,” Klaus cuts him off. “You were there, you woke me up, and we both got the hell out of there. It’s _fine_.”

“He _hit_ you,” Ben seethes.

“I’ve had worse.” Klaus shrugs. It doesn’t feel as loose as he thinks it should.

Ben’s face falls.

“I know,” he says softly. “But you thought he was _different_.”

“Well, when have I ever been right?” Klaus tries to chuckle, but the smile pulls too much at his burning eyes. “It was still fantastic osso buco, though.”

“Klaus…” Ben sighs, like he’s already lost at something.

“I will miss it.” Klaus ignores the tightness in his throat. “That and the bed. It’s hard to find a good bed.”

Ben looks at him with those sad eyes of his. Klaus pretends he’s can’t notice them from the other end of the bed.

“I’m gonna go to sleep,” Klaus says, flipping back onto his side.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just… be here,” Ben says, like he always does when Klaus goes to sleep or passes out. Like Klaus is leaving him without anyone in the world to talk to for a few hours. Like he wishes he could be anywhere else but at the foot of Klaus’ bed playing babysitter. Like he won’t leave Klaus alone even when Klaus is too tired or high or both to care.

“Good,” Klaus says quietly. “Wouldn’t want our little wayward spirit to get lost.”

It’s not for the rest of forever, but Klaus finally sleeps.

-

Klaus simultaneously feels like he hasn’t slept in years and like he can’t even close his eyes. He isn’t used to this kind of quiet. Ghosts don’t sleep.

“… Vanya?”

It’s the first night he’s had to sleep without Ben in a long time.

Allison shifts beside him in the darkness of their motel room but doesn’t wake. Vanya doesn’t answer.

“Are you awake?” Klaus tries again.

“Yeah,” Vanya says almost immediately. “Sorry, I don’t… know why I didn’t answer the first time.”

“It’s okay,” Klaus says. He looks in the direction of the bed she’s sharing with Five. He knows what they’re both thinking.

“I miss him,” Vanya breathes into the dark like a secret. “I mean… our version of him. Not this… this universe’s him.”

“Me too,” Klaus whispers, like something heavy is sitting on his chest. “What was he… What was he like, before he left?”

“He looked… older. Obviously,” Vanya says wistfully, tacking on a humorless laugh at the end. “But I recognized him. Just very… Ben. You probably know that, though. He wasn’t… scared, just maybe a little… sad, I think.”

“Yeah.” Klaus can’t think of anything else to say to that.

“But I think he knew the years he got with you were… extra,” she continues. “They seemed… really important to him.”

Tears are sneaking between the creases at the corners of Klaus’ eyes and pooling beside his ears. He thinks if he moves to wipe them away, they’ll flood.

“I… I hugged him, as he went,” Vanya says even quieter, hesitating.

Klaus needs to squeeze something out of his throat before she feels the need to ask if he’s okay. Luckily, at that exact moment, Diego squeezes a snore out of his instead.

He chokes and wakes up.

“Shit, where…?” Diego says, startled and half-awake.

Klaus hears Vanya snort, and suddenly he can’t stop laughing.

“Diego, you ruined the moment,” Luther says from the floor beside Diego.

“What?” Diego says, clearly confused. It makes Klaus laugh harder, and he tries not to wake Allison.

“Wait,” Vanya says, composing herself first. “Were you listening to us?”

There’s a long pause that hangs in the air. Klaus knows _exactly_ what Luther must look like right now.

“… I couldn’t sleep,” Luther says sheepishly.

“You can’t just _eavesdrop_ on our heart-to-heart, Luther,” Vanya says, acting like she’s anywhere near exasperated when Klaus knows they both find this hilarious.

“I didn’t want to ruin the nice little moment you two were crafting.”

God, how was _he_ the one that was capable of lifting the room they were currently renting.

“That’s creepy, Lu,” Diego says. Klaus can hear him violently scrubbing at his face. “What time is it?”

“Oh, it’s about…” Klaus looks around for any sign of a clock. He doesn’t find one. “… nighttime.”

“Thanks,” Diego says sarcastically.

“Happy to be of service.”

“Would you all _shut up_ ,” Five cuts in grouchily, sounding muffled by something on the bed.

“I’m gonna be honest, Fivey, I wasn’t even sure you could sleep,” Klaus comments.

“I said shut the hell up,” Five growls. “Not all of us got years between apocalypses, idiots.”

“Aw, is wittle Five sweepy?” Diego mocks.

“Diego, I _swear to_ -”

“Shhhh,” Klaus shushes. “You’re gonna wake Allison.”

“Oh, I’m awake,” Allison says clearly. Klaus is pretty sure her eyes are still closed. “And if I’m still awake in the next five minutes, everyone’s getting rumored.”

“Good, can you rumor my back to stop hurting?” Diego groans.

“Maybe she can rumor you to stop snoring,” Vanya says.

“Hey, my airways can’t be all aligned and shit on a mattress like yours.”

“That doesn’t make _any_ -”

“You and Luther are the ones who decided you needed to be chivalrous or something equally as stupid. It’s your own fault, so shut up and go to bed,” Five grouses, sounding even more muffled by whatever is covering his face.

“Last time I give up my bed for you,” Diego grumbles.

“ _Go_ to _sleep_.”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up, old man.”

Klaus starts giggling again as the room gets quiet.

“Klaus,” Five says threateningly. It’s not as effective when muffled by a comforter, but Klaus gets the point.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m being quiet now.”

Klaus closes his eyes.

“… I love you guys.”

“Luther. _Shut. Up._ ”

“Sorry. Goodnight.”

Klaus feels the laughter bubble up inside of him again. He keeps it from coming out, but it’s still warm in his chest. It sits next to a hollowness that Klaus tries not to think too hard about.

Ben would love this.

Diego starts snoring again. Five groans, but it’s soft, and Klaus thinks he’s too tired to tell them to shut up again.

Klaus decides he loves it, too.


End file.
